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Spanish giant Barcelona have been very dominant in European club for many decades.

The legacies of the club speak for it. Managing the club comes with such high expectations that cold claim a life. Is the managerial role of Blaugrana the most draining in football?

After three years in charge, a successful Luis Enrique is set to leave the club. He leaves the side like every other manager: severely drained. During the 5-0 rout of Celta Vigo, the fans chanted: a�?Lucho, we love you, please staya�? but it was more of a farewell message as it had been established that he was leaving.

While it seems the cluba��s ideologies are waning, the part that the coaching role drains you to the last holds still. Only two managers have stayed at the club more than four years since the 1950s. Johan Cruyff a�� who changed football at the club a�� did eight years but he did not live long after. Frank Rijkaard spent five years and he is yet to recover.

The fans own the Spanish club a�� they decide who stays on as coach, who becomes the president and the extent they want to reach each term. Continue reading →

The Barcelona forward has given his new footwear to the former Netherlands international, who played at Camp Nou in the 1990s.

The 29-year old has given new shoes for the son of the former Netherlands legend Johan Cruyff.

December is usually the time for gift giving and helping out those in need. So to keep up with tradition, Lionel Messi has donated his new boots to former Barcelona forward Jordi Cruyff.

Cruyff, who is now the sports director at Maccabi Tel Aviv, spent three seasons at Barcelona and four at Manchester United, but never quote lived up to his billing as the son of legendary Netherlands international Johan Cruyff.

The attacker scored just eight goals during his time at Old Trafford, failing to find the net during the 1997/1998 season, and later had spells in Ukraine and Malta despite a strong start to his playing career.

Conversely, Messi has scored over 500 goals for club and country, winning five Ballon d’Or trophies, and is rated as one of the best players of all time. Messi has made the former player a special present which he shared on Twitter with his followers. Continue reading →

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has lauded his former boss Johan Cruyff as the main reason why he has been hugely successful as a player and as a manager.

Guardiola managed to achieve a lot of success while being the captain of the Barcelona team. He has gone on to achieve an equal level of success as a manager. In his managerial career, Guardiola has won numerous league titles and Champions League medals. More importantly, he is seen as a coach with a vision of playing the game and being able to apply that on the pitch.

It is one of the main reasons for coaches around the world trying to replicate the Guardiola style of football. In many ways, Guardiola says that he is just trying to replicate what Johan Cruyff taught him on the pitch. As a teenager coming through the Barcelona youth ranks,Cruyff picked him up and put him into the first-team. Barcelona were under the ethos of total football during the time of the Dutchman. However, they achieved huge success with this philosophy only during the time of Guardiola. For a period of four years, Barcelona the best team in the planet by a long distance and they managed to amass several titles. Continue reading →

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher reckons that Manchester City have done a Barcelona by appointing Pep Guardiola, as he believes that this appointment is similar to the decision taken by Barcelona with Johan Cruyff in 1988.

The Dutchman is widely credited for changing the entire face of the club. He brought about the total football concept to Catalonia. While the younger generation lauds the team under Guardiola, it would not have been possible without the presence ofCruyff. The Dutchman groomed players like Guardiola when they were coming through the youth teams.

Carragher says that City have the ability to go on and have a similar period with Guardiola at the helm. The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager moved to City after resisting offers from the likes of Manchester United and Chelsea. Widely seen as one of the best managers in the world, Guardiola will be transforming everything at the club from the youth system. Since he wants his youth teams to be playing in a similar way to the senior team, the transformation made by the manager will be evident in the next decade or more according to Carragher. A product of the Liverpool system, Carragher enjoyed a remarkably successful career and made about 700 appearances for the Merseyside club before retiring a few years ago.Continue reading →

Players become mentors for future players as well as coaches. This instance is carried out well by Johan Cruyff.

He has become an inspiration for Pep Guardiola, the coach for Manchester City. The new coach credits Johan to be his mentor. He states that Johan has been his inspiration for a long time. The former boss of Bayern Munich and Barcelona credits Johan to be his mentor and for the inspiration he has on him. The new job has come to Premier League team and it involves a contract for three years. In Barca he has helped two Champions Leagues to be won as well as three titles from La Liga. There are three titles from Bundesliga that he is credited with. He states, however, that Cruyff provided advice that has helped him to put together teams that have won these matches. The influence that Johan has had on him is incredible. He feels that Johan has influenced other coaches in a similar way.Continue reading →

It is time to reminisce how the Dutch side was in the seventies. There was the concept of playing total football that is an alien concept today as well as Johan Cruyff, who leaves behind a legendary profile and a rich history of contributions to the world of football. The football acts that were enacted at that time were unique. Continue reading →

The late Johan Cruyff and the current coach of Southampton, Ronald Koeman worked together a few years ago when they met at Ajax and later at Barcelona.

Ita��s been a little over a year since Johan Cruyff passed away after losing his ongoing battle with lung cancer and Koeman has recently talked about how it was to lose one of his most important football figures.

a�?a��I was sitting on a terrace in Nice when the call came. Then everything stopped. Johan’s death, it seemed impossible.Johan walks through my life. I went to the commemoration last week in Barcelona even though it did not suit me.I flew from Nice to Amsterdam to Southampton, and then had 20 minutes to pack some stuff, because I flew back to Amsterdam.a��a��

a�?a��It was beautiful, I am glad I was there. That’s how much respect and love there is for Johan. Everything was right, everyone was there and if you so look around you, you realize again what Johan meant. He was, is and remains the greatest. If Cruyff had played at this time, he would have still been the best.a��a�� Southamptona��s Ronald Koeman said.

The impact and contributions that Johan Cruyff has made to football has been monumental as he helped create Barcelona to the club that they are today, ita��s with his playing philosophies that has molded the Spanish club. Continue reading →

Earlier in October of 2015, the former star of Barcelona Johan Cruyff was diagnosed with lung cancer. Cruyff is hailed as one of the best players that has ever emerged from Europe who played a key role in the: a�?a��Total Footballa��a�� philosophy or playing style which consists of having players performing in different positions in a same match.

This isna��t the first time that Johan Cruyff has had to deal with a medical problem as the former player and manager of Barcelona had to undergo a double heart bypass surgery back in 1991 during the time when he was when he was coaching the Spanish club.

However, even though he did manage to give up on smoking, it seems like the damage has already been done as Cruyff will now have to get treatment but he has received the support of fans and footballers who have wished him luck in these difficult times. Continue reading →

The former star of Barcelona, Johan Cruyff has emerged from the shadows and the Dutch retired player turned Real Madrid into his main talking point as he called the Spanish club to be: a�?a��unacceptable and ridiculousa��a��

Since May of 2010, Real Madrid has had 3 different managers taking charge of the club. In 2010 it was Jose Mourinho but the Portuguese manager was sacked after only managing to lift La Liga, Copa del Rey and the Spanish Supercup titles in 3 years.

Carlo Ancelotti replaced Mourinho and the Italian coach did significantly better as he was able to push the team to a Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, Copa del Rey and FIFA Club World Cup pieces of silverware all of which were snatched during his debut season in charge of the Spanish club.

Ancelotti was unable to replicate his success in his 2nd managerial career at the Santiago Bernabeu and was sacked and replaced by Rafael Benitez.

All of these changes within the managerial staff of Real Madrid has caused the team to not find their rhythm and Johan Cruyff took his chance to bash the Spanish club who have not managed to win La Liga since the 2011-12 season. Continue reading →

Former Dutch defender Mario Melchiot says that the national team are too reliant on Bayern Munich winger Arjen Robben and this could force them into missing out on a place in the Euro 2016 finals.

The national team has been encountering a wretched run of form since the World Cup 2014 came to an end on a high after the team finished in the third place by beating Brazil. This tournament also witnessed the departure of Louis van Gaal and the return of Guus Hiddink for yet another term in charge of the national team.

Even though they have managed two wins and a draw from the last three matches, they have been poor up until now and this is close to sending them out of the Euro 2016 finals. Netherlands are already third in the group and they have to make up a five-point deficit in order to catch Iceland. Leaders Czech Republic have another point advantage in the group where only the top two teams qualify for the finals automatically with the third placed team having to play in a tough play-off. Regarded as one of the top teams in the world, it would be a major disaster to see Netherlands crash out andMelchiot thinks it is a real possibility now. Continue reading →